I've been reading a book on accountability called How to be Accountable. It's a good read in my opinion. In the book it talks about the concept of groupthink and how it goes back 200 years. A book called The Sorrows of Young Werther had a huge cultural impact. There was all sorts of merch created based on the book and men dressed like Werther. It also had another effect. There appeared to be a high number of suicides much like the one in the book, and copies of the book were said to be at the scene.
It's amazing to me that even then media had a huge impact on society. Even Napolean was a fan of the book. While not the topic of the book, I'm intrigued by this. It's going to lead me to one, read Goethe's book, but also learn more about groupthink, and it's affect on culture. It also now brings a question to my mind. When did clothing become about fashion and less about utility?